With one day to go before states were supposed to declare whether they plan to run their own exchanges, HHS gave them a last-minute reprieve Thursday night — although all but about 10 states had already made their intentions clear by then.

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States now have until Dec. 14 to say if they want to build their own exchange, the same date that the formal blueprints are due. HHS pushed back some deadlines last week, but they had kept the Nov. 16 date — until now.

The delay comes a day after Republican Govs. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and Bob McDonnell of Virginia asked HHS to push back an exchange decision until the Obama administration answered all of the governors’ questions and finalized all the important regulations.

That’s not going to happen.

Instead, HHS is giving governors another month, pointing out that the health care law requires HHS to certify exchange plans by Jan. 1, 2013.

“We’re confident governors will have enough time to decide whether they want to establish an exchange, work in partnership with the federal government or have a federally facilitated exchange in their state,” HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius wrote in a letter to the Republican Governors Association.

Sebelius also said additional guidance “will be released in the coming days and weeks.”

This article first appeared on POLITICO Pro at 6:22 p.m. on November 15, 2012.